


car bros, part 2

by somethingsintheair



Series: bro chats with Sung and Meouch [4]
Category: TWRP | Tupper Ware Remix Party (Band)
Genre: Deep Conversations, Gen, rock n roll best friends, this series isn't dead yet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-01-27
Packaged: 2019-10-17 08:33:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17556938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somethingsintheair/pseuds/somethingsintheair
Summary: Another continuation of Sung and Meouch's heart-to-heart discussion.





	car bros, part 2

**Author's Note:**

> it's been over a year since i've visited this series, hello. i'd recommend reading the previous parts for some form of context but i suppose this can also be enjoyed without it.
> 
> a warning that this includes mentions of kidnapping and discussion about death.

After some deliberation (and some bickering), Sung and Meouch settled on a place to continue their discussion. Back in the car seemed like a safe bet, since Havve and Phobos had already gone to sleep, and they didn’t want to wake them if things happened to escalate again.

For quite a while, neither of them knew what to say. They both wanted to discuss _something,_ for sure, but where they actually wanted to start seemed to be somewhat of a mystery.

Sung decided to open with a question.

“What were you doing all the way out there?” he asked, “When I found you guys?”

“What did it look like I was doin’, man?” Meouch shrugged. “My job. Which, believe it or not, didn’t normally involve people trying to kill me.”

“No, no, I mean…“ Sung shook his head. “Humans of your evolutionary stage phased out in… what, the 40th century?”

Meouch scoffed. “That early? Fuck.”

“How did you end up in the 60th?”

“Same way we all ended up here, man. Time travel.”

Sung crossed his arms. “I... really don’t want to play another round of twenty questions with you. Can you just explain to me what happened?”

Meouch let out a sigh. “Alright, fine. I was kidnapped by time travelers.”

That was enough to get Sung to sit up straight again. “You _what?”_

“Yeah. When I was a teenager, I was kidnapped by a group of funk smugglers. I still don’t really know why they wanted me, but they brought me to their time and I just sorta… got dragged into that scene. I was last here around… 2010, maybe?”

“Like… _here_ here?” Sung asked, “Are you from Ontario?”

Meouch shook his head. “Alberta. And before you ask, _no,_ I don’t wanna go back over there.”

“Why not?” Sung asked. When Meouch didn’t respond, he thought of a probable answer. “Everyone who knew you… they don’t know you’re still alive, do they?”

“They don’t need to know. I’m an entirely different person after all that.”

“I’m… sure they’d still love you the same, Meouch,“ Sung said. “Your friends, your family, don’t you--“

“M’kay, new line of questioning,“ Meouch interrupted, “Pick something else, we’re done with that one.”

Sung let out a sigh and leaned back in his seat. That felt… bad. Really bad. In an attempt to focus on literally anything else, he buckled his seatbelt and started the car.

“Where are we going?” Meouch asked, buckling himself in as well.

“Dunno,“ Sung said with a shrug. He took his time backing out into the street before he spoke again. “So… why did you lie to us about being human?” he asked, “Really?”

Meouch shrugged. “Guess I was just… worried I wouldn’t get into your cool alien band.”

Sung scoffed. “Funny. As if you joined voluntarily.” He took a left at an intersection. That seemed like a good idea. “What’s the _real_ reason?”

Meouch crossed his arms. There was no point in lying anymore, he knew that. Anything Sung didn’t know, he could easily get out of Meouch whenever he wanted to. So what did he have to lose?

“I was scared.”

Oh, yeah. His pride.

“Scared,” Sung echoed. Meouch couldn’t look at him. “Scared of what, exactly?”

“I dunno, you were all like… these badass aliens with all this power,“ Meouch replied, “And when you picked me and Phobos up, I just… I felt outta place.” He paused, hesitated, before he added, “My only other experience with non-humans picking me up like that was for… not friendly reasons. I didn’t know what was gonna happen.”

“That’s… understandable.” Sung nodded. “I don’t know if it helps at all now, but… I wouldn’t have done anything differently, had I known from the start.”

Meouch took a glance at Sung. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, I would’ve… offered to take you back home, obviously,“ Sung said. “And judging by what you said before, you wouldn’t be too willing to go back. But I would’ve taken you in all the same.”

“Really?”

“Of course,“ Sung replied. “I’m not, like… racist against humans, Meouch. What you _are_ isn’t the problem. I just would have rather known beforehand, so that I could take better care of you.”

Meouch scoffed. “Who said I needed taking care of?”

“You were in pretty bad shape when we found you,“ Sung replied, no hesitation. “If it weren’t for me, Phobos would have likely killed you. And anyway, we all need someone to take care of us every now and then.”

Meouch hesitated, looking down at his lap. “Doesn't mean you gotta rub it in my face,” he mumbled.

Sung didn't reply, only shaking his head as he turned on to some side street. He still wasn't going anywhere in particular, but it was nice to have something to look at.

To his surprise, Meouch was the one who broke the silence this time.

“You don't have to be everyone's… doctor all the time, y'know,” he said, “Therapist. Whatever.”

Sung took his eyes off the road for only a moment to give Meouch a questioning look.

“Like, you're always on top of us,“ Meouch continued, “Always got somethin' to say about how we're acting, how we're feeling. You think you know us better than we know ourselves. And it's fuckin'... _weird_ sometimes, man.”

Sung paused, just processing Meouch’s words. “I suppose it's just in my nature,“ he said. “I was raised as a healer. I try to be observant of those I care about, and I want to use those observations to help where I can.”

“Uh huh,“ Meouch said, “And by 'observations,' do you mean reading my fuckin' mind?”

“Absolutely not,“ Sung replied, nearly cutting him off. “I told you, I don't do that to you. Or anyone else, for that matter.” He spotted the look Meouch gave him in his peripheral vision, and added, “Unless completely necessary.”

“Well… whatever,“ Meouch said, “I can trust you on that. But that's not the point.” He paused, giving Sung a moment to ask the obvious rhetorical question. When all he got was patient silence, he continued. “The point _is_ that with the way you talk to me, I gotta question that trust sometimes. There's a difference between normal, rational observations and completely psychoanalyzing me, Doc.” He shook his head. “You gotta stop overthinking everything to hell.”

Meouch didn’t notice the way Sung gripped the steering wheel just a tiny bit tighter.

“I'm… I know that.”

“Aren’t you scared you’re gonna go somewhere you don’t wanna be, mentally?” Meouch asked, “Like, can’t you literally think yourself to death or something?”

“Well… yes.” Sung sighed. “I have before, and I likely will again in my lifetime. But that’s not--“

“Hold on, what?”

Sung shook his head. “That’s not the point--“

“No, shut the fuck up.” Meouch pointed towards the side of the road. “Pull over, we’re not having this conversation while you’re driving.”

Briefly, Sung considered trying to change topics, but realized there’d be no point. Meouch could really be a stubborn piece of shit when he wanted to be, they wouldn’t get very far. So he pulled over to the side of the road.

“When the fuck did this happen?” Meouch asked the second the car was parked.

“It was centuries ago, Meouch.” Sung shut the engine off and took off his shades. It was getting dark, anyways, he wouldn’t be able to drive like that. “Relax.”

Meouch was already unbuckling his seatbelt to fully face Sung. “I’m not gonna relax, you just told me you fuckin’ _died._ What the hell happened?”

Sung leaned back in his seat. Gently, he placed his sunglasses in his lap, then shrugged. “I got better.”

“You got _better?”_ Meouch asked. “What kinda answer is that?’

“I don’t like to talk about it, Meouch.”

“I can’t believe this,“ Meouch said with a frustrated sigh. “Years, we’ve known each other. I thought we knew about all your weird shit. When were you gonna tell us about the time you _died?”_

“I don’t know, I suppose I didn’t find it necessary.” Tired and, frankly, a little miffed, Sung turned to look at Meouch. “You have plenty of things you wanna keep to yourself, don't you? I only just found out what your real species is, for fuck’s sake. You have plenty of things you should be talking to someone about, but refuse to.”

“Yeah, well… this isn’t about me anymore,” Meouch said. “What happened to you?”

Sung took a deep breath, willing himself to stay calm. “What part of 'I don't like to talk about it' do you not understand?” he asked. “Why do you need to know?”

“Because it's our fuckin' job to make sure it doesn't happen again!” Meouch shouted. He definitely didn't like the way Sung flinched in response, so he made a point to lower his voice before he spoke again. “Sung… how did you die?”

At first, Sung was quiet. For a while. So long that Meouch didn't think he was going to respond at all.

But he did.

“It was… loneliness, primarily,“ he said. “At least, I think so. It was after my species died out. Some time after, I'm not really sure... how long. But once I really processed what had happened, it all came crashing down on me at once. And my body shut itself down.”

Then, it was Meouch's turn to sit in silence, but not for quite as long. “When did you... come back?” he asked.

“I don't know how long I was out,“ Sung replied. “It was… just me out there. Everyone else was gone for good.”

Meouch nodded slowly, solemnly. “But, everyone else... why couldn't they come back, too?” he asked.

“It just doesn't work that way,“ Sung shook his head. “It was an epidemic of Boredom, and that's... it's not kind to people like me. None of my cures were working. They were dying out faster than I could even diagnose them.”

Meouch nodded again, now looking out the window. It felt... intrusive, looking at Sung right then. Wrong. “And... what can we do to make sure that doesn't happen to you?”

“I've gotten better at managing my emotions,“ Sung replied, “Much better. And being surrounded by people who won't react the same to them is helpful. I certainly won't be caught up in any sort of emotional epidemic again.”

Meouch looked back at Sung, and Sung could already tell that wasn't the answer he'd been looking for.

“Listen, just... go easy on me, if you can manage it,“ Sung continued. “It's not the end of the world if you're angry at me over something I did, I'm definitely not telling you you're not allowed to express your emotions. And I’m not saying you shouldn’t hold me accountable when I fuck up. But if I seem particularly off, just... give me a hug or something. Tell me things are gonna be okay.”

Slowly, Meouch nodded. “Okay,“ he said, “I can do that.”

After a few minutes of peaceful silence, Sung started the car again and pulled back onto the road. “I’m glad we could… talk,“ he said. “It’s nice to have an honest, heartfelt conversation with you.”

“Don't push it, now,“ Meouch said, but he was holding back a smile.

To fill in some of the silence on the way back home, Sung turned the radio on at a low volume. It was on some country station, for whatever reason, but neither of them were really paying much attention to it.

“Do you think... you'll ever talk about what happened to you?” Sung asked, “You know, in a little more detail?”

Meouch lowered his gaze. Instead of shooting Sung down immediately, as much as he wanted to, he answered with another question. “In your… honest, professional opinion,” he began, “Do you think that would have any sorta benefit? For me?”

“Yes, definitely,“ Sung said with a nod. “I mean... sometimes, with trauma, your brain just represses it for you, and you can function just fine like that. But eventually, especially if you haven't fully processed it, it's... good to address it. Talk about it. With someone you trust.”

Meouch hummed. “Maybe someday, then,“ he said. “You happen to know of any Earth therapists who'd believe I was kidnapped by aliens?”

**Author's Note:**

> i should say that meouch being human doesn't mean i'm writing him at all based on the dude behind the character. Human Meouch is just a character concept, any similarities are entirely coincidental.
> 
> if you wanna drop a comment, request, or just generally yell at me abt my writing, my tumblr is [here!](https://somethiingsintheair.tumblr.com/)


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